All too often I find myself loving shows that get canceled before their time. Most of these shows you've at least heard of (Deadwood, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The O.C., Flashforward). But some fade away without ever registering on the public consciousness like Life.
Life came and went and unless you were one of the five or six million people watching every week chances are you don't even know it existed. For a myriad of reasons this show just never really caught on. NBC did it's typical poor job of promoting a new show, something they've mastered in the Jeff Zucker era to such a degree they are now being bought by a cable television outlet . The show was yet another victim of the writers' strike, getting cut from a 22 episode first season order to a mere 11 episodes. And this is just a guess, but I can't believe the somewhat generic title did them any favors either.
As someone who has only been a fan of two other cop shows in the last ten years (Southland and The Shield) I can tell you this was one of my all-time favorite shows. In a genre
that is quite often boring and formulaic Life is anything but.Life centers around the enigmatic Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis), an LAPD detective who has just been released from prison after serving 12 years o a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. Having won a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles he has been awarded $50 million and his job as a detective.
Charlie is teamed with Detective Dani Reese (as played by the stunning Sarah Shahi) and set free to solve the crime of the week. The crimes are often somewhat unusual, and Charlie's methods of solving crimes are often very unusual and that makes for great fun.
Where the show really separates itself from your average cop drama is the series length story arc as Charlie slowly unravels the conspiracy that framed him for the murder of his partner. Week by week Charlie closes in on his prey and it is insanely entertaining to watch where the chase takes him.
To my way of thinking there are really only three things that matter when constructing a television series, if you get those right everything else will sort itself out. First you need an interesting premise. Second you need a good cast. And most importantly you need good writing. Life passes all of these tests with flying colors.
If I have one complaint to make about this series it's this, the series as originally aired used music to great effect to enhance the show. Music is one of those things you don't really think about unless the show is really doing it right (Miami Vice for instance). Well Life was one of those shows that really nailed it, but if you buy the DVD they have CHANGED all of the music to save money. This drives me fucking crazy! And they don't put a warning on the box either. You just get to roll home and BOOM, sneak attack after you've dropped your $50. Thanks NBC.
The entire series is available on Hulu until September 19th. Check out the Pilot.
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